Market adoption of wireless LAN (WLAN) technology has exploded, as users from a wide range of backgrounds and vertical industries have brought this technology into their homes, offices, and increasingly into the public air space. This inflection point has highlighted not only the limitations of earlier-generation systems, but also the changing role that WLAN technology now plays in people's work and lifestyles across the globe. Indeed, WLANs are rapidly changing from convenience networks to business-critical networks. Increasingly users are depending on WLANs to improve the timeliness and productivity of their communications and applications, and in doing so, require greater visibility, security, management, and performance from their network.
With some applications involving Quality of Service (QoS) traffic streams, such as voice traffic streams or video traffic streams, dropped packets may be problematic, as a significant number of chopped packets may degrade the quality of the traffic streams. When voice or video traffic is being transmitted over a wireless network, there is the added complexity that arises from user mobility. Because wireless clients may often roam between several wireless access points during the course of a session, packets may be dropped during roaming, which may adversely affect the quality of the end-user experience.